Telephone attachment



J. P. LEE. v TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT. APPLICATION FILED APR- 20, I920- RENEWED OCT- 10, I921- 1,398,029.

Patented Nov. 22; 1921.

64ZITNE88ES /4 m A TTORA/EYS UNITED STATES JOHN P. LEE, OF PLEASANTVILLE, NEW YORK.

TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent,

Patented Nov. 22, 1921.

Application filed April 20, 1920, Serial No. 375,252. Renewed October 10, 1921. Serial No. 506,919.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Join P. Lee, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Pleasantville, in the county of lVestchester and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Telephone Attachment, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

It is often desirable to prevent any conversation from being overheard by a party with whom the user of a telephone is connected. To this end, it has been customary for the users of telephones to place their hands over the transmitter.

This practice is objectionable, in that the transmitter is extremely dirty, and hence the hand placed over the same becomes soiled. Users of public telephones have also often experienced the ob3ectionable odor which arises from a transmitter mouth piece used by a number of persons, which is often quite nauseating, aside from the fact that transmitters in general are extremely dangerous after they have been in use for a certain length of time, in view of the fact that they are literally permeated with germs and dust.

In view of the fact that a person using a telephone must place his mouth adjacent the transmitter mouth piece, it will be appreciated that when used contagion may take place.

With these objections in view, I have constructed a telephone attachment, by means of which it will be impossible to prevent any sound from entering the transmitter mouth piece when it is desired, and this attachment, when it is in applied position, virtually prevents the entrance of any dust into the mouth piece, at the same time retaining the same in a thoroughly antiseptic condition.

Reference is had to the attached sheetof drawings, as illustrating one practical em bodiment of my invention, and in which drawings- Figure 1 is a front view of my improved type of attachment.

*ig. 2 is a sectional side view of the same taken along the lines 2-2 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 illustrates this attachment in its normal, or closed position.

In these views the reference numeral 5 indicates any conventional type of transmitter mouth piece to which my improved attachment is applied. The attachment conveniently includes a band 6, securely held in a cover conveniently including a circular disk of material 9 being securely hinged to the edge of the band 6, as has been indicated by the reference numeral 10.

Now with a view of providing means normally tending to swing the cover 9 outwardly, to the position indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 I conveniently secure to the hinge 10 a spring 11 which will serve to perform this function. The cover is further normally held in the position indicated in Fig. 3 by any suitable type of catch such as a latch 12, normally pressed downwardly by means of a spring 13, the latch being provided with a button 14 permitting actuation of the same.

The catch 15 is associated with the cover 9, and is positioned upon the same opposite to .its point of hinged connection, with the band 6, so that this catch may engage the latch 12, to prevent the cover from swinging upwardly unless the button 14 is actuated.

To now incorporate antiseptic qualities into my attachment, the cover 9 is conveniently provided with a pair of spaced inwardly extending strips 16 which form a groove into which any suitable antiseptic type of wafer 17 may be inserted.

Itwill now be appreciated that the cover is normally in the position indicated in Fig. 3 so that the mouth piece 5 is consequently sterilized by the action of the wafer 17. Should it now be desired to use the transmitter, a press up upon the button 14 will serve to permit the cover 9 to move to the position indicated in Fig. 1, at which point the telephone is free for use, it being understood, however, that the cover 9 may be swung by means of the thumb or other member of the user so that any conversation Will be inaudible to the party at the receiving end of the line.

Obviously numerous modifications of structure might readily be resorted to withoutin the least departing from the scope of my claims, which read I claim:

A telephone attachment. including a movable cover, spaced strips, forming a groove, attached to the inner face of said cover, said groove being adapted to receive an antiseptic wafer, and means for attaching said cover 

